since their breakup in 1999, the verve reunited last fall to perform the thaw sessions on nme.com. displayed as fourteen minutes of sheer unrehearsed brilliance, the band’s jam created the essence of wandering back in time to their hypnotic past and easily getting lost in their sound. recently, the verve performed at coachella, highlighting with memories of bittersweet symphony and tempting the audience with a few new unreleased songs to enjoy.

recorded in 1997, the verve performed live for the black sessions in paris, france, presenting a powerful collection of eight songs shared inbetween the albums urban hymns and a northern soul.

01. a northern soul
02. this is music
03. the drugs don’t work
04. life’s an ocean
05. bittersweet symphony
06. lucky man
07. history
08. come on

::download the zip::

artwork by cheri nelson

the national is one of those bands that may take some time to listen to. it comes in slow doses, categories of so-called emotion seeking, trying to decipher something that triggers deep inside, that must be found somewhere else visually in the music. after a few sessions, the feeling develops into an ongoing story, as if you’re sitting on a train with a soundtrack set to the cast of a melancholy city and the rest-assured personality that carefully follows along.

dj bernard lenoir has organized the black sessions on france radio inter for many years. referred to as the french john peel, lenoir discovered many amazing underground english and french artists, influencing their musical career and success.

back in 2003, the national’s sophmore album “sad songs for dirty lovers” became lenoir’s favorite album of the year and he invited the cincinatti band several times to play his acclaimed live sessions.

black session // 11.17.03
a collection of material from the national’s self-titled debut, cherry tree ep and the album sad songs for dirty lovers.

son
thirsty
slipping husband
all the wine
cold girl fever
murder me rachael
90-mile water wall
lit up
pretty forever
cherry tree
available
about today

.download the zip file.

black session // 04.29.05
a collection of material from the national’s cherry tree ep and their third album alligator.

all the wine
secret meeting
driver surprise me
lit up
cherry tree
baby, we’ll be fine
geese
city middle
looking for astronauts
mr november
daughters of the soho riots
abel
wasp nest

.download the zip file.

“Pop Art has always been my favorite style. I like how it’s simplistic in a sense but it’s also a way to capture split-second emotions. It’s blatant and there aren’t too many undertones. I also like the feeling of looking through a window of a store or gallery or standing twenty feet away from a painting and being able to see every detail. I think once I started painting all the time, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I just wanted to be a painter.”

artwork by lucas vidana

am i living wrong
do you see a long road with no one on it
and the right of men that you learnt only to forget
you see my sad wife and my high margin of profit
but you don’t care at all
you don’t care
at all

theres something about these live french radio sessions that seem to resonate such a surreal quality. patterns of sounds sharing a vulnerability that can’t always be found in an open scattered arena; hearing this type of emotion and intimacy should be a state of mind set for every moment of any performance.

the veils
black session // 10.30.06

a birthday present
jesus for the jugular ***
one night on earth
calliope!
state trooper (springsteen cover)
nux vomica ***
advice for young mothers to be
under the folding branches
the wild son
pan ***
not yet
more heat than light

***highly recommended

artwork by izabella pierce

r.e.m.
studio 105, la maison de la radio
black session, paris
may 07, 2001

imitation of life
the great beyond
what’s the frequency
all the way to reno
day sleeper
i’ve been high
electrolite
the lifting
at my most beautiful
i’ll take the rain
the one i love
she just wants to be
walk unafraid
losing my religion
man on the moon
so. central rain
end of the world

artwork by theartgarden

living happily together as wife & husband in duluth, minnesota,
the core of low have been creating delicate music since 1994. 

my first introduction was the rarity sleep at the bottom which came from their 7″ split collaboration shared with piano magic and transient waves.  i remember listening to it distinctly as being able to quietly relax, as the music kept me lost inside subtle electronic details, reflective harmonies and gently striking drum n’ bass.  to this day, beautifully with their new 2007 album breaker, low still provide clarity for all that makes sound meaningful.

our bodies break
and the blood just spills and spills

low // april 23, 2007
black session
maison de radio france

sandinista
in silence
take your time
dragonfly
belarus
sunflowers
laser beam
silver rider 
pissing
violent past 
murderer
breaker
pretty people

images:
lexi
thankyou:
archive.org

the black sessions are really one of my very favorite live recordings… every artist seems to share this hidden special dark quality that makes each foreign performance feel important.

the rapture
// live 10.02.03

infatuation
out of the races
modern romance
olio
coming of spring
open your heart
heaven
sister savior
i need your love ***
the pop song
untitled
echoes
killing
house of jealous lovers
rock n roll pt. 2

i was getting ready to be a threat
i was getting set for my
accidental suicide
the kind where no one dies
no one looks too surprised
then you realize
that you’re riding on a para-success
of a heavy-handed metaphor
and a feeling like you’ve been here before
because you’ve been here before
and you’ve been here before

andrew bird
live :: 03.21.05

this show is truly beautiful, so many different elements of andrew are brought in, sharing another level that is purely magical.

dj
introduction
sovay
why?
a nervous tic motion of the head to the left
measuring cups
banking on a myth
masterfade
fake palindromes
armchair apocalypse
tables and chairs
capital isle
keep your lamp trimmed and burning

artwork. otto dix

i think
i loved you
more than me

+++
goldfrapp
live france
04.21.03

lovely head
human
cristalline green
train
tiptoe
twist
slippage
strict machine
utopia
black cherry

image. vogue

i didn’t have a hard time making it i had a hard time letting it go.

over the past twenty-four years, i have dedicated my heart and soul to the world of music. artists may always come and go, but there’s those particular few that you somehow can’t and won’t ever forget.

elliott smith is one of them.

quietly inside of all the open sorrows and sighs of regret, guilt, addiction, misunderstandings — there’s these certain spaces inbetween when elliott sings that are meant to be hidden but appear so vivid and vulnerable. its amazing how a part of us that can remain so tightly disclosed and private, every now and then unlocks itself and gives a new sense of light and hope that just keeps on radiating. thats how i feel when i listen to his music. somehow underneath every simplicity permeates a warmth that leaves one so tired that we’re blessed with an optimistic sense of the bittersweet.

black sessions // paris // 06.11.1998

speed trials bled white

waltz #2bottle up & explode

sweet adelinebaby britain

happiness the gondola mani didnt understand

division day between the barssay yes